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“Skogens Hjärta” – Hypothermia
Minimalism is something that people take too often for granted as easy to pull off. The truth is that simplicity and minimalism don’t work for everyone, but those who can execute it effectively can conjure atmospheres even the most bombastic, frenetic bands could never dream of reaching: this is particularly true of Sweden’s Hypothermia, and their 2015 album, “Skogens Hjärta” exemplified the finer elements of ritualistic minimalism, as well as a cleaner and colder chapter of music for the band themselves.
While their early recordings fall more in line with depressive-suicidal black metal blueprints, Skogens Hjärta was slower and more melodic, and exchanges the more piercing elements of DSBM for a down-tempo post-rock sound that, while different, is no less mournful than preceding releases. Skogens Hjärta consists of two tracks, each of which exceeding thirty minutes in length, and is best listened to in solitude. The music is haunting and isolated, and paints vivid scenes of desolate boreal woods and freezing winds, robed figures gliding across the snow like screech owls in the evening mist under the dim light of a fading moon as all the hopeless, calamitous moments of your life playing before your eyes while death approaches with ice-cold fingers to drag you into eternal, freezing darkness alone.
This is a prime example of the lofi minimalistic misery this site aims to purvey. Support Hypothermia and listen to Skogens Hjärta below:
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4.7.21
For me, creation is a solitary voyage. It’s difficult to unburden myself from the distractions of fatherhood, work, and other responsibilities at length, and so I often find myself in a slump of inactivity as far as my more personal endeavors are concerned, and that’s when the seeds of doubt truly begin to germinate in me. More and more often I’ve found myself putting off writing or studying and drawing. I’d chalked it up to boredom or disillusionment with what I’ve been able to produce, but that’s not entirely true. Of course, there’s fear and self-doubt, but that’s not precisely it, either.
No, the chief reason, I think, for my inactivity and demotivation is that I have stopped seeing a reason to continue in the first place.
There are a great many days when I get home from my day job and fall asleep until nine or ten o’clock at night, briefly wake up to eat a cold dinner or snack, and pass back out until the next day comes along with its mocking drudgery and swallows yet another piece of my already shriveled will to live. I’ve always wondered if our souls appear as our idealized selves, a true inner picture of who – and what – we are. If I had to guess, mine would appear desiccated and gaunt, a gray-skinned shade with no real face or defining features, just sucked dry of vitality and vigor like the husk of an insect trapped in an abandoned cobweb in a condemned house; haunting and unnatural, but too frail to cause harm, merely a silent shade haunting the wastes of nowhere, alone.
I brooded over this idea for some time, and it dawned on me that, in spite of it all, I need to keep going. Even if it’s just to kill time, I need this for my sanity, and inactivity here has done me more harm than trying and failing has. And so, if you’re reading this and you’re in a rut in life, or feel trapped, isolated and downtrodden, just keep trying. Even if you never get anywhere close to where you want to be, at least when all is said and done you will be somewhere new. For better or worse, keep trying.
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“Damned in Black” – Immortal
When I was first discovering black metal around the year 2004 and began diving deeper into the genre outside of gateway bands like Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, one of the first bands I discovered that really made an impression on me was Immortal, particularly their 2000 release, “Damned in Black”. All it took was one look at the album cover’s portrayal of the band, bathed in red and black shadows and clad in shining leather and their fiendishly grimacing corpsepainted faces to paint my expectations of what an evil sounding album truly was.
And I was not wrong.
In spite of some of the band’s sillier antics on and off the stage (watch the music video for Call of the Wintermoon and see what I mean, if you aren’t already familiar), the album was a scathing inferno of ferocious riffs that sounded like frozen chainsaws cranking up in the middle of a blizzard, and then-vocalist/guitarist Abbath’s inhuman frostbitten vocals sounded like they had been conjured from the deepest abyss of Hell in an earth-shattering collision of fire and ice that would forever captivate my heart and imagination. The sheer breakneck fury of Damned in Black was – and remains – inimitable, with songs that shift in tone and composition unpredictably like an ever flowing volcanic eruption, transitioning from soul-thrashing chaos to powerful rhythms and memorable hooks. Just when you think Damned in Black is slowing down, it undergoes a dynamic shift in tempo and changes gears completely. It’s a hell of a ride, and an endlessly enjoyable one at that. While Immortal were not involved in the more controversial events of the Scandinavian black metal scene, the music spoke volumes of ashen demons lurking between dimensions in grim, icy towers and frostbitten lands. Damned in Black is imaginative, fun, and pants-shittingly fast, and each year, when the cooler months return, I never fail to crank that fucker up and smile like I’m young again.
Listen below:
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Blog – 12/14/2020
Today was a bad day: not a miserable day or nightmarish or horrible, but just bad, made so by trivial things at my day job. I’m not going to let that spoil my evening though, and thus far the evening has been pretty good thanks to a small but filling meal prepared by my missus and my daughter’s radiant smile, that little Cheshire cat grin that suffuses her face curling from cheek to cheek when she sees something curious or amusing, which at this point in her young life accounts for almost everything.
The cooler months of the year have finally arrived here in sunny Florida, and as my constant rotation of music changes with the seasons, I’ve got some exciting ideas for album reviews new and old (though mostly old as usual) and am looking forward to sharing my experiences with each one sooner or later as time permits.
I’ll also be working on some new artwork, new tracks for Daemonsgate, and if I can ever motivate myself, continuing work on an anthology of short fiction based loosely around several horror themed tabletop RPG scenarios I ran some time ago with my younger brother and some of our close friends (if I can make myself sit still long enough to focus and put forth the effort, God willing).
I’m hoping to stay busy this holiday season, and between all of the above tasks and my day job, that shouldn’t be difficult if I can just stay motivated.
The holidays can be difficult for many of us. Check in on friends and family you may not have heard from in a while. You might just find you’re the phone call they’ve been waiting on. Spread joy this season. The world needs it.
More to come.
Soon…
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“Master of Dungeons” – Undead Magic User
As a longtime fan and player of tabletop games of every sort I’ve always found it helpful to have music selected for writing material for games, whatever the setting, especially those that are bleak or horror oriented, in which case, Undead Magic User’s “Master of Dungeons” has satisfied my profane desires.
The subtle charms of this album cannot be overstated, as it eschews the bombast and pomp of many dungeon synth releases in favor of ominous minimalism and droning effects used masterfully to craft an atmosphere of windswept charnal ruins and desolate wilderness mortified by calamities untold.
Throughout its solemn resonance listeners encounter the rattling of chains, the crackling of dying bonfires, the sound of deep, cold winds bellowing deep within chasms in the cracked and blistered earth. The images that Master of Dungeons conjures are limited only by listeners’ imaginations. One envisions legions of undead conscripts marching to an endless bloody war or the depths of an immense oubliette where stars taunt feeble inhabitants from unreachable lofty heights, or something perhaps more sinister still.
If you enjoy horror, tabletop gaming, dungeon synth, dark ambient, and noise, give Master of Dungeons by Undead Magic User a shot.
Listen to this mystifying hybrid of dark ambient and noise (“dungeon noise”) below:
Master of Dungeons by Undead Magic User -
Towers of Rust: Top Five Albums for Halloween
Today is Halloween, and there’s no better way to celebrate than with some top-notch music, so here are my top five albums for All Hallow’s Eve.
5: “Under a Funeral Moon” – Darkthrone
Darkthrone’s “Under a Funeral Moon” was a particularly special album that expertly captured the raw, monochromatic aesthetic of Norwegian black metal in the early 1990’s. The harsh sound showcased by the band on this album as well as its predecessor, “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” was a stark contrast from the band’s debut death metal album, “Soulside Journey” in terms of production and songwriting; it would be imitated the world over (and still is, in many cases) and would help cement Darkthrone as innovators of the burgeoning second-wave of black metal.
The rugged, grating sound of the album manifests an atmosphere of dark ceremonies in snowy woods after dusk, far in the north, of hordes of demonic warriors readying themselves for battle. Blasphemy, darkness, and demoniacal wailing abound, and while all of these facets of “Under a Funeral Moon” have become tired tropes in most modern black metal, it’s important not to forget their origins. Darkthrone made black metal their way: fierce, and without compromise. To date, Under a Funeral Moon’s legacy gleams throughout the annals of black metal history, and it try though many have, it’s place and importance remain inimitable.
There’s no better time for traipsing about the woods drunk wearing corpse paint than Halloween, and one simply cannot do so without paying homage to Darkthrone.
4: “Cruelty and the Beast” – Cradle of Filth
Thought I was going to say Midian again, didn’t you? Not this time. Cruelty was a dynamo of an album conceptually based around Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who drank and bathed in the blood of young maidens and was sentenced to death by immurement in the early 1600’s. Dark, brutally twisted black metal with a shimmering Gothic edge. Always a favorite of the season and in general.
3: “Too Dark Park” – Skinny Puppy
If you’ve grown weary of medieval sorcery, castles, and ancient battles in music and prefer to look at the horrors of the modern era, like sprawling dystopic mega cities, human rights violations, atrocities of war and the state, or immoral medical testing, then look no further. “Too Dark Park” is a rotten, rabid look at the misery of our world and the evil that humanity can do, all seen “from a dog’s eye view”. Dreary cityscapes seethe with drugged-out psychos and polluted back alleys rife with disease and poverty. A classic in the industrial scene, “Too Dark Park” more than lives up to it’s name.
2: “We Live” – Electric Wizard
We’re slowing back down now with this one. “We Live” is one of the most massive doom albums around. A lumbering giant basking in primordial darkness and witchery, B-movie sleaze, and soul-crushing, lung-collapsing atmosphere, whether this album is a good trip or a very bad one is entirely in the eye of the beholder.
1: “Eschatological Scatology” – Gnaw Their Tongues
This mortifying album is the epitome of auditory horror. Transfixing and abominable like a nightmare come to life and reeking of coprophilia and other heinous debauchery, Eschatological Scatology is the end-times in sonic form. The hushed machine voice of the narrator in “The Atrocious Angel of Scatology” sends chills down my spine every time I hear it.
“Covered with feces, she plunged down from the black void…”
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“Stoner Rock” – Bong
While Stoner Rock was not my first encounter with Bong, it was definitely the most climactic. Comprised of but two tracks clocking in at over thirty minutes each, this was an incredibly dynamic and nuanced release. Every time I listen to it I hear something I missed previously. Bong is heavy, but not in a frenetic or brutal sense: it’s a long journey deep, deep into the aether, beyond space and time in far flung oneiric dimensions bordering madness and infinity.
Stoner Rock is possessed of a sublime, hypnotic beauty and exudes a sense of supreme wonder, like the auditory equivalent of the wondrous tales of Lord Dunsany or Clark Ashton Smith. The mellow guitar work, cyclopean drums and thunderous droning bass act as a porthole through which those weary of the material world can pass at their leisure into a higher plane. Support Bong in this dimension and the next and listen to Stoner Rock below:
Stoner Rock by Bong -
“Quest II: The Dire Pass, That Few Have Known as Sarnath” – Dungeons of Irithyll
Four years after the release of “A Journey Through the Dark”, Dungeons of Irithyll has embarked upon yet another jarring and dangerous raid of dungeons deep, this time carrying listeners to a fresh setting which emulates “a small DLC area that could potentially be found within the Dark Souls universe” called “The Dire Pass, That Few Have Known as Sarnath”.
A lot can change in a four-year span, and evidently this is true of Dungeons of Irithyll as well: the former three-piece dungeon synth act’s Bandcamp page now credits only one original member, Dregmyre of Carim, as the sole contributor of this release. Moreover, this album has strayed from straightforward lo-fi dungeon synth into a more complete dungeon experience. The dolorous chanting on opening track “The Ashen Weald” segues into foreboding spoken word on following track, “Wyrdlung Chapel” which overlays ominous sounds of shuffling feet, rattling chains, and the tolling of a bell in the distance. There are many nuanced sounds and effects at play here which give this album the feeling – a very accurate feeling- of playing through a Dark Souls or souls-like encounter.
Even the album art bears the ragged appearance of an old paperback fantasy novel, tattered and worn by the hands of too many readers over a course of too many more years. “Quest II” is a dark journey toward a spectacular climax, an epic black metal battle theme for the boss of this imagined DLC, “Lucan the Befouler”, and finally leaves us at journey’s end with “The Lord Soul”, a song which “paints the transition from an ‘accursed undead’ to that of a fully restored hero of a broken world”. This album is not just an exercise in Dungeon Synth, but in the building of a fully immersive world which captures the gloomy idiosyncrasies of both the Dark Souls series and dungeon synth expertly. I recommend it highly for fans of lo-fi dungeon synth, black metal, the Dark Souls series, and roleplaying games in general. Support Dungons of Irithyll and listen below:
The Dire Pass, That Few Have Known as Sarnath by Dungeons of Irithyll -
“Shackles of Malaise”
Comfort and contentment are the enemy of productivity. I’ve grown too comfortable, too complacent; I’m much more apt to produce when I feel a balance between anxiety and despair or acceptance of my circumstances, where the former is a driving force demanding escape or death, and the latter state of acquiescence only keeps me still and stable, but not fulfilled.
There must always be a fire behind us to keep us running, surging forward. Time waits for no man, and to let your guard down is to be swallowed by its callous tide and drowned in the ambiguity of the past. We are all racing toward a precipice: death. Behind us, flame and fury that will swallow us if given the chance. I want to go into the precipice of death without fear or regret.
This is no easy task. Life is wearying, and I am tired always. For months, a feeling of malaise has permeated the armor of my mind. Doubt and depression are my constant companions, and I am manacled to them both. I must cast off these shackles of despair and regain my bearings. Forward is the way, forward and through.
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“Grand Scheme” – WØRSEN
Blending elements of death metal, blistering grindcore and d-beat, Florida’s WØRSEN released “Grand Scheme” August 16, 2016 and it’s an absolute hammer of an album. Featuring eight short but grueling tracks of misery-fueled sonic vomit, Grand Scheme eschews the pomp and overdriven technicality of some of today’s popular metal and gets straight to the point, baring its teeth and assailing listeners with bare-knuckle aggression. It’s like being grabbed by the throat, hurled to the dirt and beaten oblivious.
The music and lyrics are short and concise but are no less devastating for their brevity; there are no frills or filler here, just pure, heavy, primitive aggression shrieking and blasting its way through your ears to smother your soul in a tidal wave of brutal indulgence. This album wasn’t made for happy people. If you’re a bitter fuck like me, then you’ll probably enjoy the scathing hooks and blasts on this album.
Support WØRSEN and listen below:
GRAND SCHEME by WØRSEN
Towers of Rust 